Tuesday, June 24, 2008

The beautiful bride, moments before walking down the aisle. Even with the stressed to the MAX mother (in the background) she was so calm and happy. I pray I am like that whenever it is that I get married.

The bride and me; friends, sorority sisters, roommates after college, and so much more. Some of my favorite times were staying up late on Sunday nights because we didn't have DVR to watch Desperate Housewives followed by Grey's Anatomy. We both had very early starts to our work days and always started Monday mornings off a little crankier because of that:

The house that brought us together, Delta Delta Delta!!! Isn't it cute!? I took a little time to myself and walked around campus being nostalgic and visiting all my favorite places. If you have never been, and I don't mean to toot my own Alma Mater's horn, BUT William and Mary is one of the prettiest places in the world to me. If you ever go to Busch Gardens, Water Country or C Dub (Colonial Williamsburg), do yourself a favor and walk around campus. You can feel the history all around you and it pulls you in. I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to go to The College.

Below is the back of the Wren Building. It is the oldest standing academic building in AMERICA (eat that Harvard). Whenever I was having a bad day, needed to think, needed to be somewhere safe, I would go here. On the left is the Great Hall, in the center academic classrooms (with the Bell tower top and center which each senior gets to ring on the last day of classes!!!), and on the right, with the door slightly open, is the Wren Chapel where Sarah and Diego got married. It is small, and utterly gorgeous. The bride and groom cutting the cake with his Navy sword. Marrying her college sweetheart who is at Georgetown Medical, commisioned by the Navy. A Navy doctor, not too shabby, so hot: Tri Deltas!!! Put two or more Tridelts in a room together at a big occasion with booze, well, you know.... And the Sigma Chi's doing their thing. I love boys...They are definitely one of my most favorite couples in the world.I miss them so much already!!!!! They are off on a very surprise honeymoon, as he told NOONE where they were going. So I am done with weddings until October in Atlanta. But I won't worry about that today, I'll think about that tomorrow..... After all, tomorrow is another day ;-)

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

I wish..... But if you were in Raleigh last night, it was raining something. I have no idea what time it was but the thunder and lightning were right over head. There was so much lightning and it was so close, every time there was a strike, my phone would make this weird static sound. I was starting to get a little freaked out. It was the middle of the night but part of me wanted to call a big strapping young lad, but like I was going to touch that phone!!! So then I contemplated going and getting my roommate, but thought about how I've barely known her for 2 weeks, and though we get along fabulously, she might think it a little strange!! And don't get me wrong, I LOVE thunderstorms. Hello, I went to College in Williamsburg, Va, that place knows how to do storms... but this one was a leeetle close for comfort as I'm still getting used to sleeping in a new place. So I sucked it up and started day dreaming. That's what I do when I can't sleep. I day dream. Is it still day dreaming if it's the middle of the night and you're in bed???

I have a feeling I'll be better about blogging now that school is out. I will be working at the Toy store for the summer, and my hours are 10-6. Quite a different schedule, and NO snack time?!?!?! I did see the cutest thing yesterday. A young father came in with his two adorable young daughters. I would say 2 and 4ish. Blonde like you wouldn't believe and bright blue eyes. They were precious (dad wasn't so bad himself.... I mean). When they were leaving, the youngest wanted to be carried so he scooped her up in one arm and said "Well we can't leave out Lilly!" and scoops her up in the other arm, kisses them both on the forehead and walks out. I wish I could've taken a picture. It just struck me as so cute. I have some guy friends who say they are "cursed" and will only have daughters. I think they would all make great fathers, especially to girls, so I can't wait for the day they do have a daughter and they're hooked. I love my daddy to the moon and back and think the father-daughter bond is so important. Perhaps this is a little (late) ode to the Papa.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Here I am lying in bed, in my pajamas at 10:22 on a Saturday night. Ended up going out a little too hard last night (big woops) and was at work all day today. So I came home, made some spaghetti, watched some movies and thought really hard about unpacking some more, but decided to come and check in on blog world. I've missed it..

My sister is on the east coast this weekend. Normally a resident of San Francisco, she is back home for a wedding. I felt bad that I was happy my little brother, who is back at the 'rivah' working at a sailing camp for the summer, isn't home. If the whole family had been together and I wasn't there, well, this one would not have been a happy camper. With S all the way out in San Fran we really are only all together for Christmas. Though only just about 4 hours away, I wish my parents and I were closer. Maybe then I wouldn't call so much..... maybe :)

I hope you don't read the following and start thinking I'm sketchy. So hear me out please... Working in a kindergarten classroom, with 5 year old children, there is a lot of physical contact. Be it helping zip up coats, holding hands so they don't run down the hall, seperating fights, handing out snacks, giving high-fives. And hugs. Some teachers do not show emotions and are not affectionate in anyway. I assure you, after being in the school system for 2 years now, I know the fine line between affectionate and affectionate. I love to give the kids hugs, pats on the back, and I will hold their little hands all day if I could. Some of the kids come from homes with 4 other siblings, single parents, care givers working multiple jobs. Sometimes they need loving from wherever they can get it. I miss my hugs. It hasn't even been a week and I miss my kids. On the last day of school, my little Chyna was sitting in the corner during free time normally the most chaotic thing we ever do. When I went over to see if she was okay, I saw she was crying. She saw me leaning down to talk to her and just reached out putting her arms around my neck almost sobbing saying "I don't want to leave Kindergarten because then you won't be my teacher every day". Well you can guess how quickly she wasn't the only one in the room crying. I stood up with her hanging from my neck and carried her out in the hall where we 'popped a squat' and had some one-on-one time. I just told her how much I was going to miss her, how the summer was going to fly by and when she's in 1st grade next year we'll just be across the way from each other and she can come visit me all the time. I assured her though that she would soon be way too cool for Ms. T and she's forget all about me. Expecting a laugh or chuckle or something, I was shocked when she started crying all over again. Thrown a little off guard I asked why that made her sad. She said if she forgot about me, then I would forget about her, and how do people that love each other just leave and forget about each other??? This is why I hug, and why I miss giving them. She nearly broke my heart. So I hope that you have people in your life that you get to hug. Hug them, and hug them often. It's good for the heart :)

Later that day, we teachers, in celebration of school being over, had a 'mandatory staff meeting' at the Flying Saucer (a bar... and it wasn't really a meeting). There were over 20 of us there when our waitress came up to the table telling us that all of our beers, the entire tables first round of drinks, had been payed for by a patron in the bar that didn't want to be recognized. They wrote us a note though. "Please accept my small offering to try and say thanks for all that you do. Teachers are out there doing all the heavy lifting for the rest of us".

Sunday, June 8, 2008

If you aren't in the South at the moment, let me fill you in. It's hot. Not the run of the mill, living' in the South kind of hot..... HOT. 100 in the shade as highs, and who knows what the heat index is. I heard on the radio this morning that I should be thankful, thankful that the humidity is only about 40% or "we'd be in for some real hot days folks!" AND as luck would have it, this is the week I had to move. True, it was only about a mile up the road, but I was also doing it pretty much by myself. When I broke down in tears Wednesday night, as my Saturday deadline was drawing near, I finally broke down and sought out some help with the larger pieces that just won't fit in the Volvo. So here I am, Sunday evening, completely exhausted, sore, covered in bruises, but comfortable in my slowly coming together room.

My new roommate, AH, is a hoot. Absolutely adorable, so friendly, and we get along GREAT as roommates so far. I've only 'been' here for a few days and I already feel more comfortable and at home. At 25 you are just too damn (pardon the language) old to settle, to live in a place you aren't happy with. We've been to college, most of us had that random first roommate in the teeny tiny room. I also had Highschool on top of that. I'm glad I'm not living alone anymore. I like coming home and knowing someone else might be there. It's a comfort thing..

Speaking of comfort, we have our last field trip of the year. Yes yes, we did JUST go on one to the strawberry farm. Tomorrow is our second to last day of school. If it wasn't going to be so hot I would be thrilled about going to a park and riding the merry-go-round and sit outside for a picnic. But tomorrow's high has gone down.. a whole degree... to 100 degrees even... I can hear one of my students repeating a phrase I've taught them... "You have to roll with it Ms. T.... be flexible". Once, one of my very lovely students responded "But I aint flexible Ms. T... LOOK!". My response: "stretch".